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Inside my head I usually see myself this way– age five, sharing some kind of beverage with my closest friends. The only thing that’s changed over the years is the beverage: “pretend tea” (air), water, apple juice, milk, iced tea mix, tea, coffee, whisky, coffee with whisky, and back to tea again these days.

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Every Thursday, I try my best to show up at Society of Illustrators for their Sketch Night. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer Thursdays because the models wear some sort of costume. Some are wilder than others, like last week’s copper and gold combination of belly dancer, Slave Leia, and Mayan princess:

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The Society of Illustrators is my favorite place to do figure drawing because not only do they always have live music and a full bar, it’s the only place I’ve been to where the models wear some sort of costume. That means a lot to me because there’s only so many times I can ask my friends and family to pose, and they’re not models, so they twitch and fidget (sorry guys!) which disturbs the intricate, ephemeral folds of cloth, and then I have to erase everything and have an aspirin.

Photo reference books for artists fill in the gaps once in a while, but they’re too static, no substitute for a real person who knows how to sit perfectly still for up to twenty minutes. Always appreciate your models!

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A few years ago, I visited The Five Pointz Building in Long Island City (the one with all the graffiti) for the first time. It was a dizzy overwhelming day because there are hundreds of studios in there AND an American Apparel textile factory downstairs, so I went home with loads of colorful fabric scraps that I crocheted into a rug… of sorts.

I drew this sketch when I insisted on sitting for a few minutes after climbing down from the roof (shouldn’t have taken the fire escape).